Have you created several versions of your CV and getting frustrated as it just doesn’t feel right?

Writing an effective and attention-grabbing CV is difficult, it can feel daunting to write a document which needs to sell you in the best possible way.

Most of us are modest, and even though we understand the necessity in getting noticed to do this in a very brief window of opportunity makes it seem impossible. You know the cliché, I have fantastic experience and I am a perfect fit for the role, but why doesn’t my CV show this correctly?

So how do you prove your worthiness and increase those essential interview opportunities, well there are some key elements of criteria that once included should help the process.

Read on to see what needs to go into an effective CV?

Profile

This gives you an opportunity to influence the theme of the CV whilst promoting your experience and highlighting your objective. It should ideally be about 6-8 lines in length and NEVER be written in the 1^st person. It should sets the scene and give you an opportunity to sell yourself, shout out the value you are going to bring with you!

Skills

Did you know that by adding a brief description of your best working assets that you could help maximise your success in getting your CV taken seriously!  Think hard and soft skills, focus on the role requirements and what the vacancies are asking for, and once this is looking good then all you need to do now is to update this section in line with the individual roles you are applying for (if relevant to your experience and covered in your career history) – and there you have it, the secret to not needing a million versions of your CV!

Experience v Achievements

Think reverse chronological order and remember, not many of us have ever finished “War and Peace”, so a blended approach including bullet points makes it easier on the eye. Focus on utilising each bullet point to highlight your successes, not just what you did but how well you did it and what the results were.

Qualifications / Professional Training

Include grades and places of study together with dates that further enhance your suitability and demonstrate your ability to continually update your knowledge. If like most of us, it has been many moons since our GCSEs then don’t stress too much on those grades, instead focus on additional qualifications and training completed within professional roles.

Additional information

This can be a good section to include data essential to your job search such as language skills and specific vehicle licences but remember not many people care about our weekend habits so only focus on hobbies if they offer quantifiable achievements and are relevant to your chosen profession.

Including the above sections within a CV should eradicate the requirement for multiple CVs and the need to rewrite for every application, instead you should only be needing to do minor tweaks within the document, including the skills and profile sections to enable you to match your CV to each role. Remember every position (even with similar job titles) looks for different criteria so check and re-check the job spec.